Dr. Bernd Schaefer is Cold War International History Project Senior Research Scholar. Previously he was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington D.C. and the Hannah Arendt Institute at the Technical University of Dresden. He also served four years as secretary for the East German Catholic Church's Stasi lustration commission in Berlin. He is also a former fellow of the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C.

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The Ahtisaari Symposium series, established at the Wilson Center in 2010 in honor of Nobel Laureate and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, provides a forum for discussion of historical and policy perspectives on vital European security issues. In cooperation with the University of Helsinki, the Wilson Center also hosts a scholarship program for Finnish professionals from the scholarly, media, business and public policy communities. more

Join us for a discussion with Bernd Schaefer, Nate Jones, and Benjamin Fischer on the unprecedented significance of newly translated documents detailing Soviet KGB and Easter German Stasi cooperation under Project RYaN, a system for detecting signs of an impending western nuclear first strike. more

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Pro-communist coup, military counter-coup, and subsequent mass killings in Indonesia in 1965/66 represent one of the major dramas of the Cold War. The powerful domestic impact of those events continues to haunt Indonesia until today, while the role of foreign actors remains largely hidden. Basing their talk on the first international academic conference held on this subject on Indonesian territory (in 2011), the speakers will introduce their edited book, Indonesia and the World, 1965-66, discuss international complicities, and address the current state of debate. more

Supported by the Korean Ministry of Unification, "Regional Dynamics and Inter-Korean Relations, Past and Present" seeks to bring a broader historical perspective to current issues affecting inter-Korean relations by conveying the importance of deep historical continuities on the Korean Peninsula. more

NKIDP e-Dossier No. 4, "The Rise of Kim Jong Il - Evidence from East German Archives," was released in the wake of Kim Jong Il's death and features four East German documents which reveal that the late North Korean leader had been groomed from as early as 1974 to take over the helm of the North Korean state. more

The Ahtisaari Symposium series, established at the Wilson Center in 2010 in honor of Nobel Laureate and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, provides a forum for discussion of historical and policy perspectives on vital European security issues. In cooperation with the University of Helsinki, the Wilson Center also hosts a scholarship program for Finnish professionals from the scholarly, media, business and public policy communities.

Join us for a discussion with Bernd Schaefer, Nate Jones, and Benjamin Fischer on the unprecedented significance of newly translated documents detailing Soviet KGB and Easter German Stasi cooperation under Project RYaN, a system for detecting signs of an impending western nuclear first strike.

Pro-communist coup, military counter-coup, and subsequent mass killings in Indonesia in 1965/66 represent one of the major dramas of the Cold War. The powerful domestic impact of those events continues to haunt Indonesia until today, while the role of foreign actors remains largely hidden. Basing their talk on the first international academic conference held on this subject on Indonesian territory (in 2011), the speakers will introduce their edited book, Indonesia and the World, 1965-66, discuss international complicities, and address the current state of debate.

Supported by the Korean Ministry of Unification, "Regional Dynamics and Inter-Korean Relations, Past and Present" seeks to bring a broader historical perspective to current issues affecting inter-Korean relations by conveying the importance of deep historical continuities on the Korean Peninsula.

Between 1981 and 1989 the foreign intelligence branches of the Soviet KGB and the East German Ministry of State Security launched a combined effort to develop a system for detecting signs of an impending western nuclear first strike. Codenamed “Project RYaN”, this early-warning system constituted one part of the Soviet response to the perceived threat of a surprise “decapitation” strike by NATO nuclear forces.

NKIDP e-Dossier No. 4, "The Rise of Kim Jong Il - Evidence from East German Archives," was released in the wake of Kim Jong Il's death and features four East German documents which reveal that the late North Korean leader had been groomed from as early as 1974 to take over the helm of the North Korean state.

NKIDP Working Paper #2, “Overconfidence Shattered: North Korean Unification Policy, 1971-1975,” written by Bernd Schaefer, analyzes North Korea’s unification policy during the early 1970s, a period, as Schaefer argues, when North Korea held its last best chance to unify the Korean peninsula under its own auspices.

Mircea Munteanu is a diplomatic historian who serves as project associate for both the History and Public Policy Program and the Cold War International History Project. Bernd Schaefer is the Cold War Project's senior research scholar. Previously, he was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. and at the Hannah Arendt Institute at the Technical University of Dresden.

Mircea Munteanu is a diplomatic historian who serves as project associate for both the History and Public Policy Program and the Cold War International History Project. Bernd Schaefer is the Cold War Project's senior research scholar. Previously, he was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. and at the Hannah Arendt Institute at the Technical University of Dresden.